The Tudors Season 4 Episode 7

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Recap

The King is eager to begin his invasion of France along with the help of Spain. He decides they will begin by invading and conquering the French city of Boulogne. Charles Brandon will be in charge with Lord Surrey and Thomas Seymour assisting him. Despite the King’s leg wound acting up again he insists that he is capable of accompanying his men to the battlefield and wants to sail to France as soon as possible.

The King marries his new bride, Catherine Parr, in a ceremony where they both look somewhat somber. The Lady Mary appears to be the most excited guest present at the wedding. She clearly prefers her father’s new wife to his former one. Catherine is also fond of Mary and the King’s other children, Elizabeth and Edward. During their wedding night dinner, Catherine tells the King she hopes his children will visit Court more often and that she can be a loving mother-figure to them. The King reacts positively to this idea but is not as keen on having Elizabeth and Edward live permanently at Court as Mary does.

That creepy religious man at Court (what exactly is his name?) is suspicious about the new Queen’s spiritual beliefs. He does much whispering to his cronies about his assumption that she is a closeted heretic. Turns out he was right to have his concerns: Catherine is a Protestant and she intends to use her new status as Queen to promote her interests in this area. She appoints a former bishop named Hugh Latimer (I am guessing this is a relative of hers or of her late husband’s but this is not confirmed) as her private chaplain. She tells him that she wishes everyone to be free to read the Bible but she asks him to be discreet with her views and his, especially around the very Catholic Lady Mary.

Before the King leaves for war he meets with his wife and daughters. The Queen will “act as regent” while he is gone and he has confirmed the order of succession should he die. Prince Edward is first in line, followed by Mary, followed by Elizabeth. His daughters and wife are sad to see him go and worry greatly about his safety while in France.

The King arrives at the battlefield in France and gives an inspirational speech to the assembled English soldiers. They proceed to hit the French fortress with cannonballs and to fire at it with rifles. Inside the fort the French people and chickens are struck as stones rain down from the collapsing towers. An underground tunnel is being built by the English to gain access to the very center of the fortress. Men toil day and night both in this tunnel and on the battlefield. The King feels that the English side is doing quite well but then he is told that “the bloody flux” (dysentery) has broken out among the soldiers and that the French are capable of tricky war tactics like hiding in the woods, ambushing British soldiers, and engaging them in intense hand-to-hand combat where many midsections are slashed and many swords are thrust into chests.

At the end of the episode the King limps from his gilded tent to gaze upon the English camp, located near the foot of the French fortress. The look on his face is one of realization that this battle won’t be so easily won as he initially thought.